Saturday, October 12 2013

In the 1890s Francis Marion Steele began photographing cowboys, recording the work and play of these iconic figures on the open ranges of southwest Kansas, southeast Colorado, northeast New Mexico, and the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma.

This genre-crossing exhibit juxtaposes Steele’s photographs with passages from True Grit to help visitors envision the world in which heroine Mattie Ross and her companions Rooster Cogburn and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf had their adventures.

Before and during the Civil War, Confederate guerrillas – men like William Clarke Quantrill, “Bloody Bill” Anderson, and Frank and Jesse James – battled federal troops and Jayhawker irregulars along the Missouri-Kansas border.

That brutal era comes to life in Guerrillas in Our Midst, an original exhibit of drawings and photographs from the Library’s Missouri Valley Special Collections. It covers not only the war but also its aftermath, when former bushwhackers like the James brothers turned to outlawry.

Begun in 1942 to address labor needs in agriculture and the railroads, the U.S. government’s bracero program became the largest guest worker program in U.S. history, with hundreds of thousands of Mexican workers providing manpower from World War II through 1964.

Bittersweet Harvest, a new bilingual exhibition organized by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, examines the experiences of Bracero workers and their families, providing rich insight into Mexican-American life and historical background to today’s debates on immigration and guest worker programs.

Hixon transformed the field of portrait photography in Kansas City and the surrounding region during a career that spanned more than seven decades. His studios—the first in the Brady Building at 11th and Main Streets, and the second just one block west in the Baltimore Hotel—welcomed thousands of patrons throughout the 1910s and 1920s.

Learn the basic functions of your computer such as using the mouse and keyboard. This class also offers insights into hardware and software components. Registration is required. Call 701-3488 to register.

This bi-weekly program at Sugar Creek offers many options for all levels of quilters. Bring a project, start a project, or come to learn something new. Class is every other Saturday at the Sugar Creek Branch Library. Call Nancy at 816-252-3344 for more information.

Suzy Amis plays Josephine Monaghan, disowned by her parents and adrift in the West. For protection she disguises herself as a man … and ends up spending the rest of her life as the rancher Little Jo. With Ian McKellen and Bo Hopkins. (121 minutes; R) This title is recommended for adult audiences only.

To complement the Big Read effort and shed more light on the theme of women in the Old West, the Library throughout October is offering Women of the West, a free film series in the Stanley H. Durwood Film Vault at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

The need for frontier justice was obvious from the origination of Jackson County in 1826. This presentation will discuss the earliest Jackson County jails, including data on the men and women who lived on both sides of the barred windows and doors. A book by the same title will be available for $10 a copy, and the presenter and author will be available for book signing at the reception afterwards.